The spoof which satirically challenges Sealord on its sustainability claims was released just over four days ago. The number of views started to rise following Mr Jones’ comments, which completely missed the point, earlier today.

Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans Campaigner Karli Thomas says the spoof ad was created to raise awareness of Sealord’s links to destructive fishing and overfishing of tuna in the Pacific and to challenge the company to shift to using tuna caught in more sustainable ways.

“Sealord is taking some steps in the right direction but it's a bit disingenuous to be make bold sustainability claims while it's still selling tuna caught using one of the worst fishing methods available,” she says.

“The Pacific Ocean is not an ‘obscure ecosystem’ as Shane Jones would have it. In fact, it is home to the last major tuna fishery on the planet and New Zealand should be doing its part to protect that fishery for the good of the whole Pacific region.”

Last year Greenpeace released video (1) shot by a New Zealander, who worked on Pacific tuna boats in 2009, showing graphic images of other sea life being caught and killed by the fishers who were using fish aggregating devices (FADs) along with purse nets. Sealord buys its tuna from boats using this method.

“This fishing practice is recklessly destroying Pacific sealife. Those in the fishing industry, here and in the Pacific, deserve to have a future in making a living from the sea but Sealord itself is putting that at risk.

“Satire is an important way to question the claims of companies, like Sealord, that clearly have a massive advertising budget to spend on their image.”

All Pacific tuna stocks are in decline. Bigeye and yellowfin are the most at risk. Scientists have advised that fishing needs to be cut by up to 50 per cent in the Pacific to allow bigeye tuna to recover. (2)

"The bulk of Sealord's tuna is caught in the Pacific and canned in Thailand. The way it's being caught is placing jobs across the Pacific and here in New Zealand in jeopardy, as it threatens bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks and their associated fisheries,” says Thomas.